I should have been well satisfied to undertake an expedition in the proposed direction, starting from the head of the Murchison, and trying to connect my route with that of Mr. A. Gregory's down Sturt Creek; but the difficulty of obtaining funds and lack of support caused the project to be set aside or at least delayed. Mr. Weld, then Governor of Western Australia, who always heartily supported explorations, was in favour of an attempt to reach Adelaide by way of the south coast, and offered me the command of an expedition in that direction. I readily accepted the offer, and at once busied myself with the necessary preparations, but was far from being insensible to the difficulties of the undertaking. Of the route nothing was known except the disastrous experience of Mr. Eyre in 1840 and 1841. His remarkable narrative--interesting to all concerned in the history of explorations or in the records of energy, courage, and perseverance under the most discouraging circumstances--might have acted as a warning to future explorers against endeavouring to follow in his track. The fearful privations he endured, his narrow escape from the most terrible of all forms of death, were certainly not encouraging; but his experience might often be of service to others, pointing out dangers to be avoided, and suggesting methods of overcoming difficulties. At any rate, I was not deterred from the attempt to trace once more the coast of the Great Bight, and to reach the sister colony by that route. Eyre had not discovered any rivers, although it was possible that he might have crossed the sand-bars of rivers in the night. The difficulties he laboured under in his almost solitary journey, and the sufferings he endured, might have rendered him unable to make observations and discoveries more practicable to a better equipped and stronger party, while the deficiency of water on the route appeared to offer the greatest impediment. We were not, however, deterred from the attempt, and on the 30th of March, 1870, we started from Perth on a journey which all knew to be dangerous, but which we were sanguine enough to believe might produce considerable results. That we were not disappointed the result will prove. Indeed, the difficulties were much fewer than we had been prepared to encounter; and in five months from the date of departure from Perth we arrived safely at Adelaide, completing a journey which Mr. Eyre had been more than twelve months in accomplishing. THE EXPLORING PARTY. My party was thus composed: I was leader; the second in command was my brother, Alexander Forrest, a surveyor; H. McLarty, a police constable; and W. Osborne, a farrier and shoeing smith, these with Tommy Windich, the native who had served me so faithfully on the previous expedition, and another native, Billy Noongale, an intelligent young fellow, accompanied us.